


The girl from Ba Sing Se

by niosism



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, F/M, Post-Canon, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 13:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15316038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niosism/pseuds/niosism
Summary: Jin doesn't spend one day without thinking of the mysterious boy she had met at the tea shop. One day, the Firelord shows up at her door requesting her presence.





	The girl from Ba Sing Se

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU, Mai x Zuko is not established. Also, keep in mind the Avatar TLA world is mostly pre-industrial save for the fire nation, and is in all no way close to the modern world we know.

  


  


After Zuko becomes Firelord he searches for Jin. He is very busy at the moment with war reparations but he cannot just send a messenger to go find her because that would be impossible. He is the only one who can go do it himself, and so he swallows his fear and goes to look for her in Ba Sing Se. 

  


How he finds her is a mystery, but one day he is at her doorstep and stepping out of a fire nation carriage with a bodyguard at his side when a middle aged man comes out to stare with much surprise. By the looks of how he stares at the carriage to Zuko, he knows the new Firelord that ended the war is standing before him, but he is so baffled he is silent for a moment too long before Zuko himself speaks. He had refused to let his guard do the questioning, as that would not only frighten the man but Zuko also liked taking care of his own matters. If anything, he wasn’t like the other Firelords. 

  


“Does Jin live here?” he asks, as if meeting an old friend, and traveling the world seemed to do him at least that favor, even if he was never very good at making friends. He is glad to be able to ask for her presence, and it shows in his face, much gentler than it ever has been; a contrast to when he last came to Ba Sing Se, of when he last saw Jin. 

  


“Firelord Zuko” the man says. He has a graying mustache and humble clothing fit for an earth nation citizen of humble status. As he looks at the man, Zuko takes a moment to really notice where he is and memories begin to spark from the newly awakened parts of his mind. He has not even seen her yet. He doesn’t even know if she is here. But he has a feeling.

  


“How may I help you?” he is clearly so abashed, Zuko’s question went completely over his head. It’s okay. Zuko understands this situation may be a bit much for any regular citizen to handle. The Earth King himself would be surprised to know the Firelord came to visit him without notice.

  


Zuko is not just any Firelord; he has vowed to be one of great humility and respect for the other nations, as he had learned when he traveled extensively in search of Avatar Aang, now a good friend of his. War was unthinkable. After all, he had recently ended the war started by his nation; his direct bloodline. There was no mistaking his family struggle. He understands now why he was banished. He was a much better human than his father had ever been. 

  


The man seems to be shaking a little, even as he bows in respect. If he is still scared of the fire nation, Zuko doesn’t blame him.

  


“I am looking for a girl named Jin. Do you know her maybe?” he tries again. 

  


The man seems to be opening and closing his mouth, unsure of what to say, but then quickly decides that the Firelord is probably not crazy this time; “My Jin? I- of course- just a second-” he says, scrambling to run inside and wake his daughter that had been exhausted from work the day before. 

  


Zuko takes a peek of the house but doesn’t step inside. It is small and built like most other houses in this sector of Ba Sing Se. There is a plant he is not familiar with (that was his uncle’s job to know) by the window, probably some kind of plant that tea is made of, he figures, and memories of when him and his uncle had found jobs in a tea shop in these streets resurfaced. That had been how he met Jin. 

  


A few seconds later, the man is making his way back to the door quickly and Zuko spots a girl behind him, her effort to make her hair look more presentable, and her clear heavy breathing. A confused look in her eyes as she approaches, looking anywhere but at Zuko. What a situation.

  


He recognizes her immediately. 

  


Her hazel eyes are staring at him, unblinking, and the nervousness he had been hiding suddenly comes to the surface, but he stops it before it reaches his head. Instead, he forces a smile to ease the tension. He’s always been awkward, but thankfully he is much better than he used to be when they met months ago. In any case, he waited for her to voice a reaction, as she surely recognized him, Firelord or not, but all that came was a weak,

  


“Lee?”

  


He had been scared of how she would react to his visit, since he had no idea what her experience with the fire nation was, surely not a good one, as a refugee most likely turned due to fire nation attacks, but perhaps at this point things were much easier, and could be settled quickly, as the Firelord himself wished. 

  


He had thought things through. Honestly, he was still just a teenager, but he had learned to value things he once never fathomed he would; friendship, peace, and truth. 

  


Forgiveness. 

  


“I’m sorry.” he began. “I just wanted to see you again and apologize.” he said. At least it was a truth, but not the whole truth. He had wanted to do that, of course, as a token of respect and remembrance of what his kin had done to these people. 

  


Jin knew the boy she had met all those months ago at the tea shop was Firelord Zuko. She had known ever since he had been crowned the new Firelord and ended the hundred years’ war. She had laughed hysterically once she found out, bitterly, heartbrokenly, strangely, and the tears in her eyes soon had become like those of sorrow, and she had sobbed for she had kissed the Firelord himself. 

  


That memory itched at her heart ever since, and there wasn’t a single day when she didn’t think of that incident, of how she had carefully nurtured a crush on the fire nation Prince thinking he was just a refugee like her, and how she had then asked him on a date, and he had went and told her he had been a juggler on a traveling circus. It was such a funny happening now that she thought about it, it didn’t seem real. 

  


She had had a real rough time, but she had no idea to what extent that roughness could go until… 

  


Jin saw him with her own eyes in all his fire nation glory. Well, almost. Zuko had forgone his traditional Firelord dress and went with a less noble outfit for this reason. He didn’t want to seem too different in class to make interaction as smooth as possible, even if his outfit still was very traditional of the fire nation. He even wore the same boots he had on his stay at Ba Sing Se, worn as they were, for lack of better knowledge. 

  


“It’s an honor to be in the presence of the Firelord.” Jin began, then looked down and said, more quietly as if she were saying it to herself, “You don’t have to apologize.” there was heat trying to creep into her face but she swallowed that down. It would be very embarrassing… 

  


Zuko kept his smile. “May I come in?” Jin bowed and stepped aside, holding in as much emotion as she could. Her hands trembled. She gripped onto her skirt to keep them steady. 

  


This formal behavior would change very quickly. 

  


* * *

  


  


Jin didn’t know what to think. 

  


In the span of the hour, as her mother had hurried to make a meal for their very special and unexpected guest, Zuko had sat down with Jin and her father and first clarified the situation. Jin had had some trouble recounting the details of how they met to her father, and so Zuko had filled in for her. 

  


“I worked at a tea shop in this section of Ba Sing Se with my uncle to support us. We were travelers at the time, as I had been banished from the fire nation by my father, the Firelord. Jin used to come by often and we became… friendly.” being more detailed in their encounter would likely make the old man go into shock. That was all he needed to know. 

  


Instead, Jin seemed to be more shaken than he was, as if she had completely forgotten of the incident and was just now made aware of it. Quickly blinking herself back to the current situation, she nervously braids her hair, keeping her eyes lowered in what Zuko assumes to be respect. 

  


“You don’t have to be so modest.” he begins, noticing her anxiety. “You’re an old friend, whether I am the Firelord or just a simple refugee.” 

  


She smiles at him, but it is short lived. 

  


“I have heard of the boy that my Jin had a crush on months ago… but I never suspected it would even be someone from the fire nation, much less the Firelord himself! Oh, boy.” he seemed awfully conflicted then, scratching his head and acting deeply in thought. “I need to clear my head. This is an awful lot to take in! Oh, boy. If you will excuse me, I think I will go help my wife in the kitchen, she must also be baffled from this -great- news.” Just then, a sudden crashing noise can be heard from a few meters away, a clattering of pots and pans. “Oh boy.” Jin’s father says. “She has overheard. Oh, boy.” and then he is quickly excusing himself to his wife’s side. 

  


In a moment, it is just the two of them sitting on pillows, facing each other. An unsure silence passes by. “I never told my family that boy was you when I found out after the war ended.” she starts, only then looking him in the eyes, taking in the gold in them for the first time since she last saw him as the boy from the tea shop. Unchanged in their color, she notices they are more gentle, more at peace, and is glad. Yet another part of her sees the eyes of the Firelord, and she trembles. 

  


“I didn’t want it to be true.”

  


“I’m sorry.” Zuko apologizes again. He knows how hard it must have been for her, someone of a nation attacked by his own. “I should have never-”

  


“It’s okay.” she says quickly, stopping him suddenly, then holding her chest from the knowledge she had just interrupted the Firelord. “I was just shocked and… Well, I saw you again and I realized that I still wished you were around. I wished that Lee was around.” she almost laughs at having admitted as much. “It’s so bizarre. I shouldn’t even be talking directly to you.” 

  


“Well, I chose to be here. There’s no harm. I’m a human like everyone else, Firelord or not, and I was banished once. I was left to die. My father tried to kill me. I was nothing to him then. Just a simple refugee. This is just what I became.” he stops to think for a moment. “I was Zuko even when you thought I was Lee. It’s always been me.” 

  


Jin covers her face with her hands then. The words had rocked her so hard she had let out a sob before she was able to control it. 

  


“What’s wrong?” Zuko says. “Why are you upset?” 

  


“I’m not upset.” she manages once her hands lower to just her mouth, muffled, then she slowly sets them on her lap. “I’m happy.” she says. “Happy you came back.” 

  


After a moment, she regains herself and focuses on breathing. In the end she says, “Is it okay for a normal girl like me to kiss the Firelord?” and they both laugh. 

  


* * *

  


_  
_

_ In Ba Sing Se, the days are hot and the night is young. It is a blessing that beyond the desert there lies a city that has kept the breeze that keeps the night cool when the sun sets and until dawn strikes. _  


  


_ In this particular night, Zuko has another date with Jin. This time, he makes sure his uncle is unaware of this, for he fears he will tell him to not get too attached to anyone in their travels, because he will likely not see them again. Zuko knows this, but he is young and naive and even if he is not very social, he likes taking risks.  _

  


_ They meet at the plaza with the lanterns where they had their first kiss. Where Zuko had run off after saying “It’s complicated.” Where he had made that mistake, and had one part of him regret that decision.  _

  


_ He was glad Jin had forgiven him so quickly. After she showed up at the shop a few days later, Zuko couldn’t ignore her.  _

  


_ And so they had resumed where they left off.  _

  


_ Today, the lanterns are lit just as Jin had hoped they would be, and Zuko is both glad he won’t have to light them again and risk her potentially finding out he is a firebender and upset he won’t have to light them for her when she closes her eyes like last time.  _

  


_ “Lee!” she says when she sees him approaching, and kisses him on the cheek. He smiles back at her and says “Hey.”  _

  


_ It is later in the night this time, as he had left when his uncle had gone to sleep, and dinner is far behind them. Jin hadn’t specified where they would be going or what they would be doing, and so Zuko waits to be lead as it always had been with him and Jin, except for when he lit the lanterns for her, and when he kissed her back after she had pulled away the first time.  _

  


_ Jin takes his hand and walks him around town, pointing out shops she likes and making small talk. Zuko wonders why she didn’t ask him to go on a stroll with her in the daytime, but doesn’t ask. He’s glad to just be with her, even if he is awkward and a liar and a banished firebending prince… It’s nice. He had never known someone to like him the way Jin does and it fills his heart in some strange way he finds peace in. From his inner turmoil. A distraction from the darkness there.  _

  


_ There is barely anyone in the streets at this hour, most of the city asleep, and for what seems like the first time, Zuko takes in the quiet atmosphere. Safe from harm, safe from his own kin, assassins, his evil sister, the wrath of his father. His fire soothes. It’s a comfortable silence, he realizes. How long had it been since he had that?  _

  


_ He sees a hill in the distance with the help of lit lantern posts on the side of houses and shops. Jin points to it and hurries them along. “This is it.” she says. “I want you to feel the grass and tell you a story!”  _

  


_ It has not been a week since he met her but he thinks that Jin is someone he feels differently about. A good kind of different. A different he has not felt before. There is still a voice in his head that tells him, like an echo, to leave and make sure she never sees him again, but this voice sounds like the start of a nightmare to him, and he quickly silences it, unlike he has in the past. This is all new to him. As a teenager, he feels like he should have the freedom to experience new things.  _

  


_ Zuko doesn’t count on how he ends up in an abandoned house with a left-behind futon and how Jin looks very glad to know there is still a semblance of a bed left behind. It is still the poor section of the city, and Jin has not known much better her whole life, but Zuko still has the clarity to question the situation. He was once royalty… but he is also tired. So he should be heading home. _

  


_ “Sleep with me.” Jin says in the darkness. The only light coming through is from the window that is half-shut on the other side of the room and so not much can be made out from both their perspectives.  _

  


_ Zuko turns around as if he’s been shocked at her voice. His awkwardness returns and he refuses to believe he has heard correctly, and so to give her some sort of answer, he plops himself on the futon as if he were about to go to sleep. This makes Jin laugh quietly, and in the darkness, sounds are emphasized, making her laugh sound absolutely magical.  _

  


_ “Let me get a lantern to light this room.” she says, as if giving a leeway, a cushion. “Then I can tell you more stories.” and this sounds good to Zuko, who gets up from the futon to wait for her return.  _

  


_ But when she comes back, she does not tell more stories. With a small light settled at the far end of the room, she crawls over to where Zuko sits and kisses him on the cheek, slowly. Not wanting to refuse her like he had the first time, he lets it happen. She kisses his jaw, his neck, then his lips. That is the first time Zuko actually returns some of the affection, and closes his eyes as he does.  _

_ If he had just one more second of clarity, he would have been able to stop himself.  _

  


* * *

  


  
  


To say that things were awkward now would be an understatement. Now Firelord Zuko, it was somewhat of a challenge for him to break down class barriers and formalities in order to track down at least some of the  _ friendship _ he and Jin had shared. He knew it was awkward for her to call him for who he really was, Zuko, but they had also both agreed Lee was long gone. 

  


In a sense, they had to start over, as resuming where they had left off was impossible. Zuko had a nation to lead. He had more important matters to attend to, and this made Jin very uneasy. How could she keep a friendship with the ruler of an entire nation from her home in a different nation? Zuko had apparently thought of a solution far ahead of her. Letters. 

  


“No.” Jin tells him, waving her hands in front of her in an exaggerated manner. She has been different from who Zuko had met months ago, and he was starting to think that him being the Firelord was not the only reason for this change. 

  


“What’s wrong?” She had been looking down for sometime now and he hoped she would hurry and tell him what she was so nervous about ever since Zuko stepped into her home. 

  


Her arms that she used to hold herself with loosened and her hands made their way down to her stomach, settled there, gently. 

  


Zuko wants to ask something like “do you have a stomach ache?” to lighten the mood or do  _ something  _ but his throat suddenly closes up and he is unable to form words, even when his mouth opens. 

  


When Jin looks back up at him, noticing his difficulty, she scoots closer to him and breathes deeply, as if reining herself in. Zuko squeezes both his hands together and somehow feels the need to leave and never come back. 

  


She takes his hand and presses his open palm into her abdomen. 

  


* * *

  


  


Jin was adamant on keeping the secret to herself, but once Zuko stared once too long at her stomach and started speaking in a voice too unsteady to be thought of as the Firelord’s, Jin had relented. 

  


Zuko doesn't leave and never come back.

Instead, he prepares a room for her to stay in during her pregnancy. He had decided to keep the child and make him or her a part of his royal bloodline, heir to the throne, one day Firelord themselves. Due to the rather taboo situation and decision, Jin’s identity is kept private, and Zuko only plans on revealing the child to the public as his own, hoping that the baby ends up carrying at least some resemblance to him. 

  


* * *

  


  


_ “Please”  _

  


_ “Let her stay.” _

  


_ Golden eyes meet his own, first gazing coldly, shocked, at the Firelord’s display of vulnerability in his desperation. They had not seen this many times before, but for the ones that had stayed after Ozai was defeated, the last time had been the last time they had seen him for years, for it was when he had been banished after having the left side of his face scarred by his father.  _

  


_ Then the eyes of the middle aged man in front of the other members soften.  _

  


_ “Firelord Zuko.” he begins. “She is a weakness. Let us not have to deal with something so critical at such a sensitive time in history. The hundred years’ war has just ended. It is not the time for such surprises in the fire nation. You know the damage we have done to the earth nation. We have to regain their trust before taking such steps.” _

  


_ He tries to hide any weakness, but his gaze turns to the rest of the men and women in the room.  _

  


_ “If she is from Ba Sing Se, she is in luck.” an older woman with graying hair and gentle eyes says, but when Zuko waits for her to continue, he only gets the look in her eyes as response.  _

  


_ It was easier said than done. Even if Jin had her family to go back to, she also considered her baby as her family, and after all, if she were able, she would have liked to consider Zuko a part of it as well. If only she was given the chance.  _

  


_ If the circumstances had been different. _

  


_ “If I had been born in the fire nation.” _

  


_ Zuko hugs her, holds her body and her breath. “If I hadn’t been born into royalty.”  _

  


_ The months leading to the birth of his baby would be painful. Oftentimes the world works against you. Zuko knows this well.  _

  


* * *

  


  


He pleads with the his council to allow Jin to stay with a new identity and readjust to fire nation society so that he can see her again at least on friendly terms, but the council holds on to tradition and it becomes clear that Jin must return to the place she was born. He could do something about it since he is the Firelord and his decision rests above all, but he doesn’t want the trouble after a long war, the risks of falling for Jin more deeply and having them both hurt at not being able to be together is too probable. 

  


The needs of the people have to rest above his own. As a ruler, he had vowed to keep the people’s wishes before his own. There is no telling what would happen if the citizens of not only the fire nation, but also the earth nation, found out about Jin’s heritage. 

  


That is how Jin returns to Ba Sing Se a few days after seeing her child, future Firelord, Princess Izumi for the first and almost her last time. She notes how she is the splitting image of Zuko even with her little eyes closed, and holds back her tears. She thinks she knows the color of her eyes. 

  


* * *

  


  


“You should have the memory of us erased.” Zuko says a few days after Izumi is born and the day before Jin is to take a ship back to the earth nation. He knows Ba Sing Se had been able to keep their citizens in line due to their ability to erase whatever aspects of the war a citizen may have been aware of. 

  


_ After Jin had woken up from having given birth to her daughter a few hours before, she desperately wanted to hold her again, to look into her eyes for the first time, but she knew that would only make it harder when it was time to leave. She remembers Zuko had taken her in his arms after a few minutes, and then notices a figure move from the corner of the room, having previously been hidden by shadows and her sleepy eyes.  _

  


_ Zuko… and her baby.  _

  


_ Her heart tugs and she tries not to think about how in a few days she will never see them again. How can she stop thinking of Izumi as her daughter?  _

  


“I can’t.” she tells him with a deep sorrow. “I would like to remember even if it brings me pain.” 

  


* * *

  


  


Jin later marries a local named Bohai and has two sons. Her son San moves to Republic City and marries a fire nation descendent named Naoki and has another two boys, Bolin, an earthbender like her son, and Mako, a firebender with striking resemblance to Zuko. 

  


Jin had tried finding peace with her memories of Zuko and Izumi and their incident, but it never happened, as she was forced to keep the secret from her family. She had since lost all hope of seeing either of them again, but when her hazel eyes meet the golden gaze of her grandson, she feels a peace overcome her, hailing of memories she so hard tried to forget. 

**Author's Note:**

> I rewatched ATLA and was smitten with the innocent scene between Jin and Zuko. There was so much potential there. ATLA did them wrong. I also noticed in ATLOK, Mako and Bolin's grandmother Yin reminded me of Jin but I have not yet watched this series to know details. I gathered a bit of info from the avatar wiki, such as the very important piece of information on Izumi not having a mother... and this happened.


End file.
